Prestigious Panel Recognizes Important Industry Innovations at SEMICON West

SAN JOSE, Calif. – July 14, 2010 – Jordan Valley Semiconductors (Migdal Ha’Emek, Israel) and Nikon Corporation, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) are the winners of the prestigious “SEMICON Best of West” award. These awards, given today at the SEMICON West 2010 exhibition, are given based on the products’ financial impact on the industry, engineering or scientific achievement, and/or societal impact.

At the award ceremony, Tom Morrow, the vice-president, global exhibitions and marketing of SEMI, said, “Our judging panel was impressed with the products from this year’s finalists. All of these products are worthy of recognition by the industry.”

Jordan Valley Semiconductors’ winning product is the JVX7200™ SiGe Metrology Tool, which, according to the company, combines advanced high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and X-ray reflectivity (XRR) channels to provide composition, thickness, strain, relaxation characterization and metrology for epitaxial layers such as SiGe and SiC, which are required for strained silicon processes. Additionally, the XRR channel can provide valuable information on other thin-films, such as those found in high-k gate stacks. The tool is capable of providing rapid, in-line measurements and analysis on both blanket and product wafers.

Isaac Mazor, the CEO of Jordan Valley, said, “Long ago, we had the vision to see the importance of the strained silicon process. Our engineers were able to bridge the metrology gap for this process by building the most advanced platform for the most advanced technology available today.”

Nikon Corporation’s award-winning product is the NSR-S620D Ultra-High Productivity Immersion Scanner. According to Nikon, this tool incorporates the Streamlign platform and a 1.35 numerical aperture lens to satisfy the aggressive demands of double-patterned lithography at 32 nm, with extendibility to 22 nm applications. The S620D targets 200 wafers per hour, maximizes yield with 2 nm overlay and superior CDU, and enables rapid installation.

Stephen P. Renwick, a principal engineer with Nikon Precision, said, “It’s great to be recognized by this distinguished panel of judges for this tool. We think this is the right product for customers, and we’re looking forward to great success.”

Before the 2010 award presentation, Jacob Mor, the president and co-founder of Nano Green Technology, said, “Receiving this award in 2009 changed our company’s life. We immediately gained respect from the industry, and this award contributed to our success. We mentioned this award in all sales meetings, and we received orders for 70 of our units within the year.”

The selection of finalists was made by a prestigious panel of judges representing a broad spectrum of the microelectronics industry (a list of judges can be found at www.semiconwest.org/bestofwest).

About SEMI:

SEMI is the global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chains for the microelectronic, display and photovoltaic industries. SEMI member companies are the engine of the future, enabling smarter, faster and more economical products that improve our lives. Since 1970, SEMI has been committed to helping members grow more profitably, create new markets and meet common industry challenges. SEMI maintains offices in Austin, Benguluru, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Grenoble, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.semi.org.